THE PASSION OF ARTEMISIA (Holiday 2001)

Vreeland's best-selling novel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, told the story of a Vermeer painting and its history of ownership. No fool, the author stays in the art world for her latest effort, an attempt to flesh out the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, a post-Renaissance painter whose unlikely career took her to Rome, Florence, and Genoa. What's fascinating is that a woman's paintings, sponsored by the likes of Cosimo de' Medici II, were taken seriously in the 17th century. Less compelling are the author's anachronistic thrashings at a bold feminist tale: ''Do you realize the magnitude of your success?'' says Galileo, another carelessly drawn historical character, to her. ''A woman kicking against the pricks of narrowness and tradition. A woman with a vision for herself.'' Go to the museum instead.